Three years.
Three whole years since the extermination of Ohara. The world was taken aback but by now those were old news about devilish people… or so most believe.
Let's rundown all the things that have happened during these three years, shall we?
(Year of the incident)
Hatchan (Future member of the Fish-men Pirates) saves Silvers Rayleigh (The Vice-Captain of the Roger Pirates) out at sea and subsequently befriends him.
Shiki (The Golden Lion, Former Member of the Rocks Pirates) escapes from Impel Down.
Shanks (Protegee of Gol D Roger) first meets Yasopp while sailing near Gecko Island.
Portgas D. Ace is born as "Gol D. Ace". His mother, Portgas D. Rouge, dies shortly after his birth and entrusts her son to Monkey D Garp, who changes his name to Portgas and raises him as his own grandson.
A burnt giant leads a group of giants to retrieve the books that the scholars had thrown into the lake in Ohara and transported the books to Elbaph.
Kuma (Buccaneer Pirate called Tyrant) protests against the corruption of King Bekori and the slavery of his citizens, causing Kuma to retaliate against the royal army which causes him to be imprisoned along with Ginny and other protestants. They are shortly rescued by Ivankov and Dragon. They manage to force Bekori to back down and form the Revolutionary Army as their founding members.
(1 year after Ohara)
Vinsmoke Judge attempts to genetically alter his unborn quadruplet sons in their mother's womb in order to give them superhuman capabilities and remove their sense of empathy. However, Sora takes a highly dangerous drug to combat its effects. Three of their sons are successfully modified while the drug causes their third son to be born as a normal human. The drug also causes Sora to develop a terminal illness that'll last for a few years before eventually killing her.
Lol, that's the only important event that year.
(2 years after Ohara)
The Burnt Giant is met by a perfect clone of Vegapunk when he visited the library on Elbaph.
Whitebeard (Current holder of the "Strongest Man in the World", part of the 4 Emperors and former member of the Rocks Pirates) claims Fish-Man Island under his protection. In doing so, pirates were not allowed to harm or capture the residents there.
On Elbaph, The Burnt Giant founds the Walrus School at King Harald's request.
Kouzuki Oden (Former crewmate of Whitebeard and Gold Roger) and the Nine Red Scabbards (Retainers of Oden) try to defeat Kaido (Captain of the Beast Pirates, holder of the tittle "Strongest Creature" and Former Member of the Rocks Pirates) to open the borders of Wano Country but failed.
Oden is executed by Kaido and Kurozumi Orochi (A piece of shit). Before his wife Kouzuki Toki's demise, she uses the powers of the Toki-Toki no Mi/Time-Time Fruit to send her son (Kozuki Momonosuke) with the Ame no Habakiri (Oden's white sword) and their retainers (Kin'emon, Kanjuro) to safety 20 years into the future.
Kurozumi Higurashi is killed by Kaido. (Good Riddance)
Kurozumi Semimaru dies of old age. (More of a side-character than Kuro lol)
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi (Former Members of both Whitebeard and Roger Pirates) begin their feud due to them blaming the other for Oden's death.
Yamato (Kaido's Daughter that out-proclaims herself to be a man, more specifically Oden) is imprisoned in a cave by Kaido for wanting to be like Oden. She befriends three samurai while there and is read Oden's logbook by them before having his chains cut free. The samurai Shimotsuki Ushimaru, Fugetsu Omusubi, and Uzuki Tempura make one final effort to kill Kaido and avenge Oden before being killed themselves.
Scopper Gaban (Left Hand of Gold Roger) moves to Elbaph and meets Ripley.
Bell-mère, a Marine, is caught in a battle between Marines and pirates in the Oykot Kingdom. She survives and takes two orphans she finds, Nami and Nojiko, back to Cocoyasi Village; she later adopts both girls as her daughters.
(3 years after Ohara)
Boa Hancock and her sisters are kidnapped and become slaves of the Celestial Dragon's.
The Red Hair Pirates rescued an island from a rival pirate crew, and Shanks adopted the orphaned two-year-old Uta, having found her inside a chest they had looted at the time.
(4 Years after Ohara. Exactly on the beginning of the 4th year, Kaizo finished his seclusion)
At the center of the island was sitting a now 11-year-old Kaizo meditating, after a deep breath he leaps from the ground with a summersault jump and delivers a flying kick to a tree.
The tree is immediately destroyed but Kaizo doesn't stop, as he lands he rushes to another kick and punches right through the tree with ease, finally, he dashes towards a large boulder and starts attacking it using from his feet to his elbows to strike the boulder, it didn't take much to break the rock and Kaizo walloped it into dust.
Looking at his knuckles with no injuries whatsoever, Kaizo smiled and let a light sigh of air.
'3 years… I thought it wouldn't be possible but fortunately Martial arts correlates to each other.' Kaizo.
In truth, Martial Arts are at this point interconnected with each other, which made it easier for Kaizo, who has already experience with the Martial Arts in question, to learn the fighting styles properly.
The only thing missing is him perfecting his abilities via real battle experience.
But most important of all, Kaizo has lost his baby face and looks like a normal human, his body is oddly tall for some reason, he's 10 but he looks on his teens, he theorized it was a way his body responded to the trauma of these last 3 years of training.
I mean, remember how Gohan's face was all round and punch-able? Well, Kaizo is now like future Gohan, in terms of glow-up not actual height or awesomeness, yet.
Anyway, Kaizo's been keeping tabs on the government thanks to the money he had, unfortunately, he's all out of money now and needs more.
Packing all his stuff, Kaizo gazed at his three most precious belongings. The Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, his memory book filled with pictures of him and Robin and a guitar he managed to craft during his stay.
"3 whole hellish years in this islet… time to leave." Kaizo spoke to himself as he packed all his belongings.
He made himself a nice boat, It's not like a navy one or anything but it's big enough for him to carry various bags filled with nuts and other resources.
"So long small islet, One Piece world here I come!" Kaizo announced as he sailed away from the islet.
(3 days later.)
Kaizo was lobotomized about his One Piece Knowledge but even he can be sure that the camera always made this monthly travels appear as 2 days trips. Why is this relevant? Oh, no reason, just the mere fact that Kaizo has done NOTHING worthwhile these last 3 days!
He woke up, checked the direction of his compass, fished dinner, slept, rinse and repeat for the past 3 days! Naturally, he's bored out of his mind.
'This sucks~ Well, at least I can practice singing "Hell's coming with me" while sailing.' Kaizo thought as he took out his guitar.
(Play Hell's coming with me, from Poor Mans Poison.)
The gentle guitar strum begins the song with a slow-paced singing.
They all laughed as he turned around slow
Kaizo and Robin are laughed by the children of Ohara.
They said, "You ain't welcome 'round here anymore
You just might as well go"
The adults and kids shunned them even further.
The scene changed to Ohara in flames as Kaizo and Robin are shown injured.
He wiped the blood from his face as he slowly came to his knees
The two kids wiped their blood as Kuzan approach them.
He said, "I'll be back when you least expect it
And hell's coming with me"
Kuzan leaves but so does Robin, leaving Kaizo amidst the flames.
Hell's coming with me
Kaizo gets engulfed by the ice before and then flames. The song's pace changes, becoming faster and more rhythmical.
There is a hill at the bottom of the valley
Kaizo is shown injured watching the town in ruins.
Where all the poor souls go when they die
He passes through the charred bodies of the scholars.
And if you listen real close, you can hear 'em like a ghost
The ghostly figure of the ghosts clutch Kaizo's back as he keeps walking, ignoring them.
And you're never gonna make it out alive
Kaizo looks back only to see the graves and clutches his fists.
There is a town at the bottom of that hill
Kaizo enters the basement of the Tree of Knowledge.
They got a secret that they keep like a slave
Kaizo stands in front of the Poneglyph.
They got a black magic preacher
The Poneglyph oozes an aura that turns into words as Kaizo gazes upon it.
We'd do well to let him teach her
Kaizo writes what he's seen in a book but hears an explosion.
You'll be heading up that hill to the grave
Kaizo gets out of the tree only to see Ohara being bombarded by the Marine Warships.
And it is well with my soul
Kaiz dashes through the forest alongside Robin as the marines kill the townsfolk.
You line your pockets full of money
The marines pillage the dead bodies.
That you steal from the poor
More innocents are being killed before Kaizo lunged at the marines.
And on your way down to hell
Kaizo starts punching them and snapping their necks, killing them.
You'll hear me ring the bell
A small boxing bell sounds as Kaizo keeps killing marines.
I'd pay the devil twice as much to keep your soul
The scene changes to Kaizo standing on top of the dead bodies of the marines as the shadow appears to be that of a devil, his eyes glow blue with his slits thinner than a snake.
The tune changes back into a bit less active and Kaizo calms his thoughts a little.
There was a drifter passing through that little valley
A cloaked figure is seen walking through Marineford.
He had promised he was coming back to town (coming back to town)
He's greeted by the rest of marines like a new member of something as they cheer for him.
They didn't know him by his face or by the gun around his waist
The cloaked man is shown slightly to have a pistol on his waist and some gloves on his hands.
But he'll come back to burn that town to the ground
The camera focuses on the man's face, revealing him to be and Adult Kaizo holding the anger from his face.
The scene changes again but instead of Ohara on fire it's Marineford.
First, there was fire, then there was smoke
Kaizo casually strolls around whistling as many marines die to the fire.
Then the preacher man was hanging by a rope
Kaizo hung Spandine by the neck in front of everyone.
And then they all fell to their knees
The weak marines begged for mercy on their knees.
And begged that drifter, begged him please
Kaizo didn't said anything but raised his fist.
As he raised his fist before he spoke
Yelling at them, Kaizo started shooting them.
I am the righteous hand of God
One after another, the marines fell lifelessly to the ground as Kaizo continued yelling.
And I am the devil that you forgot
Kaizo ran out of ammo and lunged at Kuzan and grabbed him by the neck.
And I told you, one day, you will see
His eyes reflect Kuzan's despaired reflection as Kaizo's anger intensifies.
That I'll be back, I guarantee
Kaizo punches Kuzan and throws him towards his men.
And that hell's coming, hell's coming
Kaizo raises his hands as the fire raises in sync.
Hell, hell's coming with me
Kaizo flashes a deranged, malicious smirk as he looms over to finish Kuzan off.
The real Kaizo starts disliking the direction of his thoughts and continues the song on a quicker pace.
And it is well with my soul
The camera focuses inside Kaizo, showing two persons, Kaizo, and who he once was before.
You line your pockets full of money
The interior fills with gold coins as the two drift away from the other.
That you steal from the poor
Kaizo pushed to the sea as he desperately tries to remain afloat.
And on your way down to hell
A hand pulls Kaizo downwards, showing that instead of water he was being taken into an unknown abyss.
You'll hear me ringing that bell
Another bell is heard from above and Kaizo sees his other self pushing him further back.
And I say
Hands envelop Kaizo as he tries to fight back but it's futile, he's drawn into the void.
Hell's coming (hell's coming) with me.
Kaizo opens his eyes and looks at his guitar before he places it near the mast.
That was weird, wasn't it?
Allow me to explain then, Kaizo has just experienced something called: emotional identification or empathic embodiment in the context of performance.
It's where artists connect deeply with a song by imagining themselves in its situations or relating it to their own experiences. This process can also be described as artistic empathy, projection, or even a form of method singing (similar to method acting), allowing the performance to feel authentic and cathartic.
Normally, this creates a nice niche vibe to the singer, but Kaizo seems to have some traumas from Ohara. What an unexpected twist of events (sarcasm).
'Ok… a LOT to unpack there… but at least I'm honest with myself.' Kaizo.
Kaizo didn't had time to think further on his own problems as he heard some gunshots. Taking out his scope he looked at all directions and saw a ship, possibly a merchant one from the looks of the crew, getting raided by pirates.
Without doubting, Kaizo began rowing his raft as fast as possible, by the time he arrived the pirates were still mid-plundering so he took that as his invitation to the party.
He jumped from the raft and landed on top of a pirate, slamming him towards the floor.
There was a small pause from everyone as they looked at the newcomer smile.
"Oi, who the hell are you!?" A random pirate asked.
"I'm Kazuto D Kaizo, the one who'll become the Strongest in this World." Kaizo announced proudly as he lunged at the enemies.
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